PRIDE & THE PROBLEM WITH "NORMAL"

I've blogged it before, but this Tim Walker shot is just so money.

DOMA was just overturned and we're headed into Pride weekend here in New York, which means it's time for some #deepthoughts and a healthy dose of swearing...

Conventional. Traditional. Normal. These words stand diametrically opposed to my understanding of queer identity. Not because queer people are walking around wondering to themselves, "How can I be more oUtRagEoUs?!" but because straight people have more or less always been like, "You frighten us, now we shall stone you to death!" Clothing and other facets of self-presentation have always been an important component of identity to queer peoples, either for purposes of more fulfilling self-expression or as a form of discreet coding to let other "deviants" know you were of a kind. Because I process everything in my world through the lens of (men's) fashion, I wanted to start this off by parsing through some reactions to the recent menswear shows and their wider implications.

GIVING FACE

This is a skirt that I picked up for $1 in a thrift shop. The tag just says, 'Made in Belgium'. I like to imagine it has fancy origins...look at that badass zipper! I paired it with my CDG blouson (seen here and here) et voilà! I've got a timely "gay" wedding outfit (well, once I find the right oversize clutch to take it to that next level.) Photos Anthony Urbano.

[STREET STYLE] MASCULIN FÉMININ

For today's street style post I've decided to take advantage of the distinct differences in the above street style shots to talk about gender and sexual identity, especially the way one's gender is or is not expressed through sartorial choices. But, to switch things up, I decided that as all subjects are presumably of the female sex (though not necessarily gender), I would "pass the mic" to Nora of Genderqueer Fashionista (a fellow Virginia transplant!) for her perspective on the outfits in these photos and what they say about the person wearing them. Ed. note: I showed Nora the top and bottom photos in this set, then realized I had two other pictures that helped illustrate the topic. Her commentary refers to the top and bottom shots only, but points she makes are applicable to all four photos.

People who are non-binary gendered--that is anyone who identifies or presents their gender outside the boxes of male-assigned, man identified and female-assigned, woman-identified--blur the lines between bodies, presentation, and gendered expectations. And I think style is a big part of that. How we dress signals a lot about ourselves, and one of the most basic elements of that is gender. Person two seems to be signalling a non-binary identity with their clothing, where person one could much more easily be acknowledged as a woman.

Click through to continue reading this post!

YOU NEED TO KNOW: LAURENCE PHILOMÈNE

I discovered Canadian photographer Laurence Philomène's work through Tumblr, where one of a series she'd done for the blog Girl Guts popped up on my dashboard. I love her aesthetic - maybe because she is a woman she crosses gender boundaries in a very non-sensational way. Her images are pretty, sophisticated and charming. They also remind me of being a five-year-old little boy dressed up in his mother's old slips, and - more weirdly - making a skirt out of toilet paper this one time?

See lots more of Philomène's work on her blog, her Tumblr and her Flickr - then like her on Facebook!

cass + ali bird in brooklyn

photos Emily Weiss

I'm taking today (moving day) off pretty much, but check out this supercute interview with some bitchin' Brooklynite ladygays...except for the part where they talk about how pregnancy got them so in touch with their mommy sides - adopting is going to be really f*cking awesome, ok?